Malaysia’s Ahmadis living dangerously
Targeted by both society and the state, Ahmadis in Malaysia plead for a fair voice, fearing the worst if they’re denied this.
Later in 1975, the Selangor Fatwa Council decreed that the Ahmadis were not Muslims, and recommended as a result, that their special Malay privileges be removed. Deceased Malaysian Ahmadis were not allowed to be buried in Muslim cemeteries, Ainul said, adding that their bodies had to be taken to a special gravesite in Cheras.
Patrick Lee, Free Malaysia Today
In the middle of Kampung Nakhoda, there is an unassuming three-storey building. Nothing about its humble stature makes it stand out from nearby houses, except for a council-erected signboard that clearly reads: “Qadiani Bukan Islam” (Qadianis are not Muslims).
Youths mingle inside the building’s compound, warily observing passers-by beyond the front gate. At FMT’s approach, they smiled and opened the gate, only to quickly close it, and the front doors leading to the building’s living room.
Inside, the youths set up video cameras and other recording equipment. They are friendly, but slightly skittish with the visiting journalist. They relax a little when their religious leader, Maulana Ainul Yaqeen Sahib, enters.
It is easy to see why. Ainul belongs to the Ahmadiyya movement, an Islamic sect coldly received by Malaysia’s Sunni Islamic authorities.
Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS) officers in the past, he said, have raided the building – named Baitussalam – which serves as the local Ahmadiyya community’s gathering place and mosque.
“They (JAIS) pushed themselves through a hole in the front gate when we didn’t let them come in. They didn’t have a warrant,” he told FMT, relating the 2009 incident.
The JAIS officers barged their way into the building, and started inspecting its prayer room and taking photographs.
Ainul also said that a few of these officers would later pose as curious university students. One of them, he claimed, “borrowed” a copy of the Quran, and never gave back.
Given the cold shoulder
According to Ainul, Ahmadis are no different from other Muslims in terms of practice and the faith. “We follow the Quran, the five pillars of Islam and the tradition of the Holy Prophet. Even our Kalimah (Islamic creed) is the same,” he said.
But what sets them apart from other Muslims, is the belief that their sect’s founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was Islam’s Promised Messiah and the redeemer, the Imam Mahdi.
(The Ahmadiyya movement began in Qadian, India, during the late 19th century, and was later called Qadianis.)
It is a belief that has not only incurred the wrath of hardline Islamic authorities, but also their supporters.
In May 2010, Pakistani terrorists attacked two Ahmadiyya mosques in Lahore with grenades and automatic rifles, killing 86 and injuring more than 120.
Earlier in February this year, an Indonesian mob attacked an Ahmadiyya community in Cikeusik, Java. Videos released on the Internet showed the mob chanting “Allahuakbar” (God is great) as they beat and killed three Ahmadis, raining blows on them with sticks and stones even as they lay dead on the ground.
While outright violence against Malaysia’s 2,000-odd Ahmadis is unknown, the sect’s believers nevertheless are given the cold shoulder by both the authorities and locals.
According to the Ahmadis, opposition against the movement started shortly after the movement was introduced to Malaya by an Indian missionary in the 1930s.
